Falling!!

so yesterday on my commute home I was riding my my 29er due to the new lake effect snow fall and I was riding closer to the edge of the road then normal with a car behind me and a line behind him, when I caught the edge and went off the bike falling left into traffic....I heard screeching tires and brakes locking up , I turned and saw headlights and thought this is it......thankfully the cars stopped and i lived, a few nice people asked if I was okay.....besides a bruised tail bone i'm ok....drove today i'll be back on the bike next week

So anyone else take scarey spills in traffic and live to tell about it????

While pissed off motorists are irritating, I'd rather have someone honking at me than clipping me when they pass too close. I think I'm a lot more likely to get hurt because of someone's incompetence as a driver or inability to glance in the rear-view before opening their door than their realized desire to hit me.

I've generally been fairly lucky with taking my falls either off-road or with no traffic around. The worst was when I stood up to accelerate out of a stop sign, broke my chain and fell. The installer should have read the manual. That was right in front of a car, but it hadn't even started to move yet.

Doh! I`d have crapped my pants! No, I haven`t had any similar incdents, but I can easilly imagine it. Fortunately for me, the drivers are RELATIVELY patient with bicycles around here, and I don`t ride in city traffic very often.

"While pissed off motorists are irritating, I'd rather have someone honking at me than clipping me when they pass too close."
Not positive, but I think this is a suggestion to either take the whole lane or at least move out further into it when the conditions are bad. If so, I agree with Mr. Switch. I probably ride closer to the edge than I really should most of the time, but when it gets dicey I stay well inside the white line. Somebody made the interresting observation that the less room you give yourself on your right the less room cars will give you to your left- sounds completely stupid, but it`s generally true.

On my summer commute I use a contra-flow bike lane for about half a km. 2' to my left there is oncoming 60km+ traffic, and 2' to my right are concrete planters and wrought iron benches. In the summer it's a great route.

Last year on one of my first fall rides there was frost or something on the road and the bike just dropped out from under me (I didn't have the winter sKiLLz I do now ), and I ended up in the road. It was through compete dumb luck that there was a break in traffic because the lights had recently changed.

I fell On Wednesday trying to find a path up a Berm on the way to work. Then Did on the way home. I've never fallen on the road in traffic though. That would be freaky to me. I ride in Pretty busy traffic too. I try to stay over but often ride in the right tire track when I know people won't give me enough room or try to make it by me. I live Near Michigan State University but people are some what rude to Cyclists. My favorite part of my ride is the Roundabouts. I'm completely certain if I fell in one of those, I'd die.

29er your experience is something I kept thinking about my whole ride in on Friday. Whether the edge of the road or even a patch of ice, the idea of going down to the left when there are cars going by at 40mph is a very scary thought. While I'd like to develop a subconscious to fall to the right...physics in this case would dictate the fall direction.

In the snow on Friiday I was taking the middle of the lane (the only plowed area) and also flat out pulled over and stopped on the shoulder twice for cars to pass when it looked like riding on the shoulder was too dicey.